Easy or normal?

[Asraniel]

Hi, i was wondering. Are most people playing or easy or normal? I only tried normal (10 games).
The game is really hard. I never got anywhere near the end. I usually get blown to pieces somewhere in the middle of the way. I never have enough scrap to buy interesting things (i never could buy a new weapon for example).

Now i'm wondering. i have to engage in fights to get more scrap, but doing so will cost me for repairs and for new rockets. I still come out with a little more scrap than i had to invest, but nowhere enough to buy stuff.

Any suggestions? I'm an average nethack gamer (went to "hell" 3 times), so i'm familiar with gaming and roguelikes.

[spunky]

I would play several games on easy to get a feel for all of the mechanics of the game. You get plenty more scrap on easy, and you are more likely to get farther. It will teach you the "basics," many of which transfer over to normal (like maximizing the number of encounters per sector to maximize scrap).

Once you have a grasp on the game, the real enjoyment is in normal mode. You are supposed to feel like you are just BARELY getting through every sector; it's part of the fun, and it makes the achievement of getting to the next sector all the more fulfilling.

I just finished beating easy with my entire ship upgraded...it is clearly time to move to normal.

[Nori]

I don't know... I started out on Normal and played 25ish hours on that mode. Got to sector 7 several times and then just recently made it to the boss. Got past the first stage with nary a scratch (I had the really sweet dual missile launcher) but the retarded second stage had me dead in seconds because I "only" had three shields and no drones.

So seeing as I had only unlocked the Torus I was getting a wee bit frustrated, so I figured I would try a easy mode game. I was getting so much scrap it was sick... Had the torus upgraded to full shields, cloak, weapons, drones and all the subsystems. Unlocked the stealth ship and beat the boss too (it wasn't easy to beat him, but I managed to do it).

I would say then that the normal playing you have done will probably make playing through on easy enjoyable because it is highly likely you could go all the way on a your first easy playthrough.

PS: Normal really should be called Ironman or Hardcore mode, and easy should be called normal.

[aviphysics]

I advise playing the game through on easy first. It gives you a lot more flexibility to learn strategy.

You definitely need to get as many encounters as possible. It is the only way to get enough scrap to finish the game. Getting a scrap recovery arm early helps a lot.

The game would probably benefit from a couple more difficulty settings. Something between easy and normal and something above normal. Easy isn't really that hard ones you figure out a few strategies.